Friday isn’t the most effective day for college basketball, a minimum of not now in any kind of period. Regardless, Butler and also Xavier provided a wild 40 mins Friday evening inside Hinkle Fieldhouse, where Thad Matta’s Bulldogs won 69-67 many thanks to A) Xavier’s Jack Nunge calling a timeout the Musketeers really did not have with 23.4 secs staying and also B) a goaltending contact Eric Hunter’s dunk effort with 2.5 secs left that given Butler with the game-winning factors.
It was a wild surface that tightened up the Big East race.
Marquette (11-3), Xavier (11-3), Providence (10-3) and also Creighton (10-3) are currently connected for initial in the loss column of the Big East standings with 3 weeks left in the routine period. For what it deserves, KenPom.com is forecasting Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles to inevitably win the organization outright with a 16-4 seminar document– one video game far better than just how Xavier and also Creighton are predicted to end up.
The 2-point loss at Butler positioned a 2nd loss to a sub-100 web group on Xavier’s résumé and also went down the Musketeers toNo 15 in Saturday early morning’s upgraded CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 day-to-day college basketball positions. Xavier is among 5 Big East groups in the Top 25 And 1. The others areNo 14 Marquette,No 17 Providence,No 22 UConn and alsoNo 25Creighton UConn and also Creighton will certainly play each various other Saturday at the CHI Health Center Omaha, where the Bluejays are provided as 4.5-point faves and also therefore anticipated to expand their winning touch to 8 video games while breaking UConn’s at 3.
